Gangtok, April 24; The water supply in Gangtok will be restored by tomorrow after five days of disruption. Must tell the pipeline supplying drinking water from Rateychu was damaged by a cloud burst on 19th April following that water supply for Gangtok was disrupted fully.
Rateychu water supply pipelines are the only source of Gangtok water demand. One pipeline of 14 inches has been restored and supplied water to Selep today. Another 14-inch pipe laying is almost at the completion stage today and by evening water may be supplied subject to weather conditions at the site by tomorrow morning probably we will be able to provide water to the public after five days of continuous restoration work said PCE cum Secretary, Bindeshwari Prasad, PHE department.
When it was asked if this is not the first time such a crisis had occurred and why didn't the department opt for a permanent solution then Secretary Prasad replied "We have already submitted our DPR to the Ministry of Urban Development for an alternative water solution from B2 river in north Sikkim and we are waiting for next step. Worth mentioning Gangtok has a demand of 15 to 16 million liters of water daily which goes to 20 million liters during peak tourist season.
While people in Gangtok had a very difficult time after the disruption of the water supply and many people were forced to buy drinking water, authorities also distributed water in various councils to meet the water demand while people also traveled to nearby streams to fetch water late night and early morning.
While hoteliers in Gangtok had other sorts of difficulties to provide water facilities to their guests and they also need to pay heavy amounts to get water supply from another source as Sikkim is going through a peak tourist season.
